A guide to environmental standards in Australia
Use the Responsible Wood label
Are you selling Responsible Wood-certified products? Then you need to tell your customers about it! You can do this through the Responsible Wood trademarks. As a Responsible Wood chain of custody certified company, you have the right to use the Responsible Wood label on both your Responsible Wood-certified products and your promotional materials, such as brochures and websites.
About Logo Use
The Responsible Wood label enables you to communicate your responsible practices visibly to your customers. This is becoming ever more important as consumers are increasingly conscious of the impact of their buying decisions.
The Responsible Wood label also enables you to demonstrate your commitment to sustainable development and corporate social responsibility, as well as highlighting your engagement with sustainable forest management. Furthermore, by generating awareness and demand for products from Responsible Wood-certified forests, you are helping to increase the value of forests and therefore reduce the risk of deforestation.
Responsible Wood labels are created quickly and easily through the online Responsible Wood Label Generator. By using the Label Generator, you can customize the label to suit your needs, while being assured that the label remains in line with our graphic requirements.
In January 2020, Responsible Wood published the latest versions of the Responsible Wood Chain of Custody (ST 2002) and Responsible Wood Trademarks (ST 2001) standards. The Responsible Wood Trademarks standard replaces the Responsible Wood Logo Usage Rules standard (ST 2001:2008). These standards entered into force on 14 February 2020, with a 24-month transition period. Find out more about how the 2020 standards affect your certification.
If your company is still certified against the older Responsible Wood Chain of Custody standard, you must continue to follow the requirements from the Responsible Wood Logo Usage Rules standard. Once you are certified against the 2020 Chain of Custody standard, you will need to follow the requirements of the Responsible Wood Trademarks standard.
Companies certified against the 2020 Chain of Custody standard will gain access to the new Responsible Wood Label Generator once they have signed a new trademarks usage contract (or accepted an amendment to their existing contract). But don’t worry, your Responsible Wood trademarks licence number won’t change. The new Label Generator will ensure the creation of labels in line with the graphic requirements of the Responsible Wood Trademarks standard.
Find more information about the new Label Generator.
If you still have material that you produced while you were certified against the 2013 Chain of Custody standard, you can sell this remaining material using the Responsible Wood trademarks according to the 2008 Responsible Wood Logo Usage Rules.
During the transition period, the current version of the Label Generator will remain online to enable companies to produce Responsible Wood labels in line with the requirements of the 2008 Responsible Wood Logo Usage Rules standard.
For more information, please contact us at [email protected].
The Responsible Wood trademarks
The Responsible Wood trademarks cover the Responsible Wood initials and the Responsible Wood logo. Responsible Wood chain of custody certified organisations have the right to use these trademarks on-product (directly, or indirectly to refer to the certified material included within a product) and off-product (for promotional purposes).
Note: This page covers the features of the Responsible Wood trademarks as defined in the Responsible Wood Trademarks standard published in 2020. If you are still following the requirements from the older Responsible Wood Logo Usage Rules standard, please refer to the standard and Logo Usage Toolkit for more information.
The Responsible Wood on-product labels
The Responsible Wood on-product labels are only available for Responsible Wood-certified products. They provide consumers with assurance that the forest and tree based materials within your product come from a sustainably managed forest.
You can use these labels directly on a product, as well as on the packaging of products that are Responsible Wood certified. You can also use it on documentation associated with, or referring to, a particular Responsible Wood-certified product, such as adverts and brochures.
We offer two on-product labels: the Responsible Wood certified label and the Responsible Wood recycled label.
Responsible Wood certified label
You can use this label on-product when at least 70% of the forest and tree based material included in your product is Responsible Wood certified. Any remaining material must be from Responsible Wood controlled sources, ensuring there is no forest and tree based material from controversial sources in your product.
If the product does not include recycled material, you can remove the word ‘recycled’ from the label message. If your product includes only forest and tree based material sourced directly from Responsible Wood certified forests and delivered with the ‘Responsible Wood 100% Forest Origin’ claim, you can remove ‘recycled and controlled sources’ from the label message.
You can also replace the text ‘This product is’ with the name of the product that is certified, for example: ‘This table is…’, helping to provide clear information about your certified products to your customers. If you’re short on space, you can remove the label message and website, and replace the label title with the name of the product.
Responsible Wood recycled label
If your product includes only recycled forest and tree based material, you can use our recycled label.
You can also replace the text ‘This product is’ with the name of the product that is certified, for example: ‘This paper is…’ Helping to provide clear information about your certified products to your customers.
If you’re short on space, you can remove the label message and website, and replace the label title with the name of the product.
The Responsible Wood off-product label
As a certified company, you can use the Responsible Wood off-product label to enhance your communication about your responsible practices, including on your website, annual and CSR reports, marketing materials, catalogues and brochures and in-store materials. It’s important to note, that this label cannot be used to claim that products are certified.
This label includes the standard text ‘Promoting sustainable forest management’. However, you can use the messages listed below as alternatives (modify text in italics with appropriate term): - [Company name] has a Responsible Wood certified chain of custody
- [Company name] offers Responsible Wood certified products
- By sourcing Responsible Wood, [we/company name] are supporting sustainably managed forests globally
- By sourcing Responsible Wood [wood/paper/packaging], [we/company name] are supporting sustainably managed forests globally
- The Responsible Wood logo on our products ensures that our [wood/paper/packaging] comes from sustainably managed forests, recycled and controlled sources.
- Every purchase of a Responsible Wood-labelled product makes a difference for forests and forest communities across the world.
Note: If you are still following the requirements from the older Responsible Wood Logo Usage Rules standard, there are two possible alternative messages:
- “[Name of company] has a certified Chain of Custody”
- “[Name of company] offers Responsible Wood-certified products”
How to get the label?
Certified organisations with a valid Responsible Wood trademarks usage licence can use the Responsible Wood Label Generator to create the Responsible Wood label. Companies that have not yet received login details for the Label Generator should contact their national Responsible Wood member or Responsible Wood International for more information. Certified companies that are interested in using the Responsible Wood label but have not yet obtained a licence are encouraged to fill out this form in order to request a licence.
The legal part...
The Responsible Wood logo and the initials “Responsible Wood” are the exclusive property of Responsible Wood and are internationally registered trademarks. They must be used with correct reference to the Responsible Wood Council, Responsible Wood members and their systems.
They cannot be used as part of, or integrated into, other trademarks or labels, within product brand names, company names or website domain names. They cannot be used together with other claims, messages or labels that can be misunderstood or misleading with regard to the qualities, characteristics, content, production process, etc. of the product they are accompanying, Responsible Wood certification or Responsible Wood in general.
Responsible Wood reserves the right to refuse the use of any Responsible Wood trademarks which does not align with Responsible Wood’s strategic vision and mission.
Abuse
As the trademarks are a visual cue that consumers are increasingly looking for, it is vital to correct misuse of the Responsible Wood trademarks, even if it is unintentional. We encourage anyone to report improper uses to allow us to investigate the matter.
For further information about Responsible Wood trademarks and to report suspected trademark or label misuse, please contact us at [email protected].
Interested in Certification?
Responsible Wood chain of custody certification is available worldwide and open to all companies that manufacture, process, trade or sell forest-based products. Discover the steps you need to take in order to achieve Responsible Wood chain of custody certification.
